3 Starting with Ardour 5.1 OSC has a graphic setup dialog. This dialog
4 can be accessed from Preferences->Control Surfaces. Select OSC and
5 click on the Show Protocol Settings.
8 The Ardour OSC dialog has three tabs. The main tab, the Strip Types
9 tab and the Feedback tab.
12 Many OSC devices get their IP from a DHCP making it difficult to set
13 an IP in Ardour's OSC settings. Therefore, most of the settings are
14 <em>default</em> settings. Values are set and the next OSC surface to
15 send an OSC message to Ardour will use those settings. An OSC
16 surface that has previously sent a message to Ardour will retain the
17 settings it already had. Any change to a setting will reset all
18 device settings. A <em>/refresh</em> message will set that device to
19 any new settings. The use of <em>/set_surface</em> will override all
20 settings except <em>Port Mode</em>. <em>Port Mode</em> affects all
21 connected surfaces and so all surfaces must use either the set manual
22 port or send OSC messages from the same port they expect to receive
25 <h2>Dialog settings</h2>
26 <h3>OSC setup tab</h3>
28 <img alt="the OSC configuration dialog"
29 src="/images/osc-dialog.png">
33 This field is informational only. It shows where Ardour will receive
34 OSC messages. The system Name and the Port are the most important parts.
35 Normally, Ardour will use 3819 as its server port. However, if some
36 other server is already using this port, Ardour will try to use the next
37 port up and will keep trying up to 10 ports up.
41 <img alt="Port Mode Dropdown"
42 src="/images/osc-portmode.png">
45 This drop down allows the choice of Auto or Manual outbound port
46 setting. The Auto port mode, will send OSC messages back to
47 the port messages from that surface are received from. This setting
48 allows two surfaces on the same IP to operate independently. However,
49 there are a number of OSC control surfaces that do not monitor the
50 same port they send from and in fact may change ports they send from
51 as well. Manual allows the outgoing port, the port the surface will
52 receive on, to be manually set. In Manual port mode only one control
53 surface per IP can work. Most phone or tablet OSC controllers like
54 touchOSC or Control need Manual port mode. More than one controller
55 can be used so long as each has it's own IP.
59 This is an Entry box for setting the outgoing port when in
64 This sets the default bank size for the next surface to send a
65 <em>/set_surface/*</em> OSC message. Bank size 0 (the default) sets
66 no banking and allows controlling all strips included in strip_types
67 at once. The entry area will be bright blue for a port that is not
68 valid (ports below 1024 or 3819).
70 <h4>Send Page Size:</h4>
72 This allows setting the size of pages for sends. In the case there are
73 more sends than controls. A size of 0 is the same as no paging and
74 all sends are directly controllable.
76 <h4>Plugin Page Size:</h4>
78 This allows setting the size of pages for plugin controls. Some
79 plugins have hundreds of controls and so it may be necessary to page
80 the plugin controls to a limited number of physical controls. A size
81 of 0 is the same as no paging and all plugin controls are directly
86 <img alt="Gain Mode Dropdown"
87 src="/images/osc-gainmode.png">
90 Sets the faders (and sends faders) feedback math to position where a
91 value between 0 and 1 represents the fader position of the same fader
92 in the mixer GUI or dB where the feedback from fader movement will be
93 returned as a dB value. When the Gain Mode is set to position, the
94 /*/name feedback for the channel will show dB values in text while the
95 fader is being adjusted and then return the name text.
99 <img alt="Debug Mode Dropdown"
100 src="/images/osc-debug.png">
103 For debugging purposes this allows logging either all OSC messages
104 Ardour receives or invalid messages received or none.
108 <img alt="Preset Loader"
109 src="/images/osc-preset.png">
112 Ardour now allows the use of preset settings. The default settings
113 used are the settings from the last session or the factory defaults
114 the first time OSC is enabled. As soon as any of these settings are
115 changed, the Preset will change to "User" and the new settings will be
116 save to the osc directory in the
117 <a href="@@files-and-directories-ardour-knows-about">Ardour configuration directory</a> as
118 <em>user.preset</em>. This preset file can be renamed for future use.
119 It is suggested to also change the name value inside to avoid confusion
120 in the preset listing. Ardour will ship with some of it's own presets
121 that go with some popular OSC control and map combinations.
123 <h4>Clear OSC Devices</h4>
125 This button has been removed after Ardour 5.10. Instead this action
126 is triggered by any change in the settings.
129 This button clears operating device profiles so that Ardour will reset
130 all devices settings to use the new defaults from changed settings. a
131 device may still override these new settings with the /set_surface set
132 of commands. The reason for setting defaults settings is that some OSC
133 controllers are not able to send more than one parameter at a time and
134 so having correct defaults allows one "Connect" button rather than 4.
136 <h3>Default Strip Types tab</h3>
138 <img alt="the Default Strip Types tab"
139 src="/images/osc-strip-types.png">
142 This allows selecting which of Ardour's mixer strips will be available
143 for control. The Factory default is all strips except master, monitor
144 and hidden strips. If it is desired to only see input tracks the
145 others can be deselected. It is also possible to change these settings
146 from the control surface. A set of buttons could select showing only
147 inputs or only busses. If a group is selected in the GUI then showing
148 only selected strips will show only that group. Showing hidden tracks
149 is handy for cases where a groups of tracks that grouped to a bus or
150 controlled by a VCA are hidden, but one of those tracks needs a tweak.
152 <h3>Default Feedback tab</h3>
154 <img alt="the Default Feedback tab"
155 src="/images/osc-feedbackdefault.png">
158 This allows setting up which controls provide feedback. The Factory
159 default is none. If the controller is unable to receive feedback, this
160 should be left blank. In the case of metering, Metering as a LED strip
161 only works if Metering as a Float is disabled.